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Meet the 1st Indian woman to finish oldest cycling event in France

Priyadarshini Pawar has become the first Indian woman to successfully complete the 1,200-km Paris-Brest-Paris circuit —France's oldest long-distance cycling event. Pawar cycled nonstop between August 18 and 22. She is the daughter of one of its officers, thus, the Indian Navy took to Twitter to congratulate her on the achievement.

The Indian Navy wrote, “Huge Congratulations to Priyadarshani Pawar, an #IndianNavy daughter, India Coast Guard spouse and now a part of @airindiain family on successful completion of the prestigious and gruelling 1200km non-stop #ParisBrestParis Randonneur cycling event 18-22 Aug.”

“A remarkable feat indeed in unfamiliar terrain and weather, she completed in her very first attempt. Incidentally, the race culminated with the visit of Hon'ble PM Shri Narendra Modi PMO India to France,” the Indian Navy said in another tweet.

It added, “Understandably this is the 1st time since the event started in1891that any Indian woman has successfully completed the same. Coming on the heels of the highly successful #NavikaSagarParikrama, a befitting tribute to women power by a #NavyChildrenSchool alumnus.”

Interestingly, over 30,000 riders have successfully completed long-distance cycling in the event since its inception in 1931.